The Owl Familia: The Family That Will Grow Forever:
Boscha Joins The Familia?
"Why did I say yes?" Boscha asked bitterly.
The three-eyed witch was currently on the couch in the Owl house. Boscha had her knees to her chest and she was staring at nothing even though the crystal ball was showing a live Grudgby game.
It has been nearly a week since Boscha decided to stay at the Owl House, and she was miserable. No, the residents minus a particular house demon were all doing their best to give her space; even the human was doing her best to stay out of Boscha's hair.
What was making the young sport-stars miserable were all the dreams she has been having. Every time she closed her eyes, the image of her mama, broken on the healing house bed, would pop into her mind. The image was made all that worse by the words Amity spoke to her that day.
"Boscha, Your mom's going to live. For Luz, she would have to live with that memory for the rest of her life."
The three-eyed witch snapped her eyes shut and shook her head violently. Why were those words affecting her so much?
Boscha felt the couch shift slightly and opened her top eye. The human's mother had taken a seat on the opposite end of the couch. Camila wasn't looking at Boscha, but she couldn't help but feel like the older human wanted to say something.
Boscha closed her eye again, and just focused on the play-by-play of the game. For the next few minutes, the two were silent and Boscha almost thought the human had just gone away.
"You can cry," Camila suddenly said, causing Boscha to open her eyes.
The older human still wasn't looking at her, but Boscha could feel something had changed.
"Like you know what I'm feeling at the moment?" Boscha scoffed and unrolled her body.
Camilia clearly didn't believe the witchling's posturing; she looked at Boscha with sadness in her eyes and a hollow smile on her face.
"Much like my mija, I have my fair share of bad moments," Camila replied sadly. "But there's one time I can't even let myself forget."
Whatever walls Boscha had been trying to build were already crumbling. Something about the look in the human's eyes was so powerful that she found herself speaking before she knew it.
"W-What happened?"
The sadness in Camila's eyes grew but her smile turned real. The human scooted over to the witchling and took her into a one-arm hug. Boscha fidgeted slightly but didn't try to get free.
"Two months before my wedding, I got into a silly fight with Manny," Camila explained calmly, "I don't even remember what we were fighting about, but it got so heated I said I wish he wasn't in my life anymore."
Boscha could feel a pit forming in her stomach. She felt she knew where this was going, but felt compelled to learn more.
"What happened next?" she asked slowly.
Camila's smile shrunk slightly and the sadness reached her lips as she looked Boscha right in the eyes.
"I stormed out of the apartment we shared and a biker ran right into me," Camila replied simply.
Camila's smile grew a bit ironic as she tipped her right shoulder.
"I fell onto the stairs to my apartment building and broke my shoulder," Camila said. "The break wasn't all that bad but as I lay in the hospital bed, I could only think about one thing."
Boscha had given her full attention to the human as Camila looked at the coffee table. When she next spoke, her voice was soft.
"Why did I let that fight get so out of hand? It was something silly but I couldn't let the matter go. Because of it, I got hurt because I was so mad I couldn't see straight."
Camila looked at the witch and her smile lost all trances of sadness.
"Manny thought so too. He came rushing to my side when he learned what happened and spit out apologizes after apologizes," Camila said fondly. "We shared a good laugh after that, and then…then he cried."
Camila looked Boscha right in the eyes and the witch saw nothing but warmth in them.
"He cried because he thought he could have lost me and might never clear the air between us."
Camila let this sentence hang in the air and allowed the young witch to absorb her words. One didn't need to be an oracle to know what the human was implying, and she could feel the water threatening to come forth.
"What I guess I am saying, Corazon," Camila said softly, "It's okay to cry. No one, especially anyone in this Familia, would think less of you."
An image of her mother, lying on a bed but still joking around with her, came to the front of Boscha's mind. She couldn't hold it back anymore and threw herself onto Camila as she cried. The older human wasn't surprised by this and just comforted the witchling by rubbing her back.
"I'm just so confused!" Boscha nearly screamed. "Everything's changing so fast. My moms are going to be so far away, and I feel like everyone is leaving me behind!"
"It's okay, Corazon," Camila said gently, gingerly rubbing the witch's back. "Take all the time you need."
Those words just made the young witch cry that much harder. The human adult and young witch stayed like this for nearly five minutes before Boscha got it out of her system.
Camila gently pushed Bosha away from her as she grabbed some tissues from the table. With a kind smile, the human gently wiped Boscha's face clear.
"Why are you doing this?" Boscha asked.
There was no animosity in her voice; the three-eyed witch was genuinely curious. Camila's smile turned motherly and she took Boscha's hand in her own.
"We in the Owl Familia have this saying we like to live by," Camila replied seriously. "Everyone that comes under the roof of our home shall be treated as family. It matters not if they're human, witch or otherwise, under the roof of the Owls, you're family."
Boscha could only gawk at the human; in her mind, the saying was corny but spoke to her. It was like she was hearing the voice of the Titan in those words.
"Can I, can I call you auntie?" Boscha said without much thought.
Boscha's eyes snapped open when her mind caught up with her mouth and she looked away. Camila just continued to smile motherly and squeezed the witchling's hand.
"Of course, you can, dear," the human mother replied kindly. "But, how about we sit on that idea until after you try another Familia's tradition."
Boscha slowly looked at the human and her eyes widened as she realized what Camila was suggesting.
(Two days later)
Boscha, newly rejuvenated, studied herself in the "knocked-down" room. While she had chosen to keep her hair like she normally wore it, the outfit was what caught her attention. She was wearing a scaled-down version of the outfit Amity lent her a week ago.
The outfit, of course, has been modified to fit Boscha's taste.
The outfit was an overhaul-style dress that showed the new yellow sweater under it. The leggings had the star pattern replaced with Grudgby balls, and instead of boots, she wore some simple flats.
Boscha looked at herself one last time and couldn't help but grin with childish arrogance. She was going to be the cutest "knocked-down" in the room, hands down. She wasn't the only one to think this either.
"May, are you cute?" Camila commented as she stepped into the room.
Boscha just turned her nose up arrogantly but held out her hands. Camila giggled under her breath as she picked up the newest Familia member. The human mother could see right through the girl's act. She had no plans to ruin Boscha's fun; this was the most relaxed Camila had seen the witch since their meeting.
The human mother walked out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door. Lilith gave Camila a small nod as acknowledgment without taking her eyes off the entire KDC. Camila nodded and set Boscha down.
The "knocked-down" witch cautiously studied the other current children in the area.
Amity, Skara and Gus were all practicing their bard skills to her right. Next to Amity was Luz, who looked ready to fall asleep from listening to the bards' playing. To Boscha's left were the basilisk and three "knocked-down" humans.
Vee was showing her friends from the human realms something in one of her school books. The black-haired human child said something that flustered the basilisk and Vee's face went bright red and her ear began to wiggle.
Finally, she saw Willow who was near the house. The plant witch had her face buried in her scroll and was 'owing' and 'awwing' at she was witching. Boscha also noticed that Willow had a smile on her face and would blush ever so often.
Boscha was curious and stealthily walked up behind her old victim. She was disappointed when she saw that Willow was just watching a Flyer Derby match. She was about to leave when she noticed the smaller chat window on the right of Willow's scroll.
Boscha noticed that Willow would blush slightly when a new message was sent by someone with the handle RULERZRECHF4N. She grinned wickedly as she realized what was going on.
Since Willow didn't realize she was being watched, Boscha decided to sit in on the match and get some fuel for her bullying.
Since Boscha had played a game a few months back, she thought she would be bored with the live stream. However, the more she watched the game the more she found herself liking the game. It was the final leg of the game, and the teams were down to their final members.
The two male witches were in a game of chicken; both heading for a collision when a witch with a red flag hit the back of his staff with a ball of abomination goo. The witch went into a controlled spin, and this allowed him to dance around his opponent. The opposing witch wasn't ready for this move and couldn't react fast enough; his flag was taken before he knew what was happening.
The red flag player stopped his spinning and made a beeline for his team's post. Boscha couldn't help herself, she cheered loudly when the Red Skies won the match. This startled Willow, and she made a cute noise as she looked at Boscha.
The plant witch stared at her bully for nearly a minute and then her eye drafted to her scroll. Her face went red, probably with a mix of anger and embarrassment, when she realized her old bully saw a lot.
Willow's face twisted with anger and looked ready to say something. Thankfully, a set of eyes had noticed what was going on and kept her attention on her newest family member.
"You saw?" Willow asked suspiciously.
Boscha chose to keep her mouth shut at this. Instead, she crossed her arms and conceitedly turned her nose up. Willow didn't like this and used some magic to cause a vine with a large red plant to grow next to her.
Bosch wasn't scared by this and created a fireball to fight back.
"I think that's enough," Camila said, getting between the two "knocked-down" witches.
The human mother sent a glare at her newest charge and Boscha admitted (only to herself) the stare was scary. She let her fireball dissolve but put on a look of defiance as she looked at her new guardian.
Camila didn't even need to look at Willow to get the plant witch to call off her plant.
"Boscha," Camila started sternly, "I know you weren't planning on doing anything wrong, right?"
Again, Boscha couldn't help but feel a little scared at her new guardian's glare and tone. The three-eyed witch deflated and weakly nodded.
Camila didn't fully believe her new charge. One can't raise a child like Luz for X number of years and not pick a few things up. She turned her attention to her daughter's best friend and noticed the video on her scroll.
An idea quickly came to the human mother and she took a few steps back to address the two.
"How about this is settled with a friendly game?" Camila asked seriously.
(SC)
Boscha was close to having one major flashback; turns out the friendly game was a child-safe Flyer Derby match. The two teams were waiting as the mothers finished setting up the field using Luz's snow-jelly spell.
Boscha looked around and scowled at her team. To make things somewhat fair, the three-eyed witch got Skara and Gus. That left Willow with Luz and Amity.
Boscha gets it; she had some more experienced players on her side and the captain of the team got the somewhat inexperienced players. While she understood it, it still irks Bocsha she didn't get to be on a team with Amity.
Lilith cleared her throat to get the current children's attention.
"Now that the field is set up," the ex-coven head said, "We will go over the modified rules."
The ground gave Lilith their undivided attention.
"Since we don't have the usual group of five for a Flyer Derby match, the team's captains will have two flags. Also, since the captains will have two flags, if one is taken, the captain would have to remain idle for a minute before they rejoined the match. In attention, if the captain is idle, the opposing team can't target them."
As she said the last line, Lilith looked at Boscha. The three-eyed witch just rolled her eyes as the meaning behind the gesture was instantly known. Still, she nodded and that was enough for Lilith.
"One more thing before we begin; remain in the field," Lilith explained seriously. "If you fly out of the field, even by accident, you will be penalized and have a minute timeout. If this happens three times, that player will forfeit their flags. Understood?"
Everyone could only give the historian a sour look but otherwise nodded. Lilith smiled and looked at the field she helped to set up. The field took up nearly the entire front yard. So, given the children's current size, going out of bounds shouldn't be an issue.
Still, Lilith wasn't going to experience something like what happened during Ghoul Break; when found the Livestream and saw it was Luz playing a Flyer Derby match.
With everything set up, Camila told the kids to get ready. The two groups went to their starting points, and Boscha stopped and blinked. The Basilisk and her friends were standing off to the side and wearing cheerleaders' outfits. The basilisk Bsocha could understand, being a shapeshifter and all.
But how did the others change so fast and was the boy wearing a… girl's uniform? The "knocked-down" witchling shook her head and took her spot. Now wasn't the time to get distracted.
Once the teams were at their starting spots, Camila gave them the signal.
"GO!"
Immediately both teams were in the air. It looks like history was about to repeat itself as Boscha went for Willow. Like before, Luz came in from a side with the plan to steal one of her frenemy's flags.
Boscha saw this and was ready this time. She pulled back at the last second and Luz flew right by her. Boscha grinned as she watched Luz nearly fly out of bounds.
"Bo-Bo!" a cute voice said.
Boscha looked in time to see Amity come speeding by her and winked as she held up one of Boscha's flags. Boscha grumbled but had a blush on her face as she moved to the rest area.
And so the match goes on.
Because of the reduced number of players, the match was faster than normal. The first to go down was Amity. She was taken down by Boscha when she left the penalty zone.
Amity may be Boscha's crush but she plays for keeps.
The next to go down was Luz, taken out by Gus. Willow then took out Gus in a move that even impressed Boscha. Skara took one of Willow Flags and the game was put on hold for a minute.
Once Willow was free, she quickly took out Skara with another move that impressed Boscha. Now it was down to the final two, and neither wasted time. Both went for each other, and Boscha made the first move.
She titled her body even so slightly so she was slightly forward and reached out. Ironically, Willow pulled the same move, and both realized they saw it from the Flyer Derby they watched.
Still, the new frenemies? went for it and both grabbed the other's flag at the same time. Silence filled the area as everyone gawked at this turn of events. Soon, however, the group turned their eyes on a certain ex-head witch. Lilith was using her scroll to look up the rules for the game.
"Here it is," she said to herself and address the group. "In case of a tie, a post will be set up in the center and the flags would be put on it. Whoever grabs their opponent's flag first is the winner."
Lilith exchanged her scroll for her witch's staff and took to the air. She flew to the center of the field, popped one of the snow-jellies, and used her steel-boom spell to create the post. She then took the flags from the two "knocked-down" witches and put them on the post.
Finally, she instructed the two back to their starting points and rejoined the others. She gave Camila a nod and that told the human mother to give the signal.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Startled, everyone looked as Raine riding on a familiar slitherbeast came barreling into view. Puffy stopped at the edge of the field and Raine went flying. The group followed as the ex-coven head bounced across the field. They barely missed the post that Lilith just set up and continued to the end of the field.
For a moment, the adults were worried; was Raine okay? Lilith was going to check on her old classmate when they jumped to their feet and cracked their back. Say for a disheveled outfit and messy hair, the bard was unharmed.
Raine sensed the eyes on them and looked at the group. They bashfully rubbed their neck and looked at Lilith.
"Sorry for the rude interruption," they said slightly shamefully, "But is Eda home?"
"She's in the kitchen, making lunch," the elder Clawthorne replied awkwardly.
Raine nodded and then hurried to the back of the house. The group watched as the older witch disappeared into the back and Lilith looked at the group.
"...Shall we continue?" she asked awkwardly.
Camila nodded and tried to shake off her awkwardness and refocused on the game.
She raised her right hand and then brought it down. "GO!"
(M Corner)
I know next to nothing about sports and was just making things up as I went. But, I digress; we reaching the end of this story. Just a few more chapters and the next one is the one you've all been waiting for. Look forward to it.